Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-05-28
LAND REFORM.

oad radical but clear scheme Of land reform,
Many good people turn in dismay from the |
very mention OF radical land reform, because
the words suggest the inpracticsble schemes |
OF Henry George, whose name Is enough TO /
estate Ba, the power and .ns1 eIo9uence %, 'ecs Of
"Prugress and Poverty" all must con.
cede, and "there is no smoke without
hre" On the lecture platform and befors |
committees OF the legislature Mr. Bocock |
has explained the evils OF our present system
OF land tAxstion, and the advantages of the
plan with which he would replace it,
FIRST ne lays down the principle that the
ownership OF land carties with il a duty to
the public As truly as does the right OF way
OF . railway company and the Law.
making power can rs justly hold the indi.
Vidual owner tn ace >unt, ~ 1t can teach cor.
porations to respect the shts ct the public
main In their behalf
lndividuslism demands that "the state
should insure for the individual the utmost
opportunity Tor sel!-culture IN every direc.
ton consistent with the rights OF nei hboriug
Individuals" He insists upon private
ownership as the essential object Of laud re.
form and that the problem can only he solved
by perfect distribution. He wants to make
every individual land owner, as far as gov.
erument can make him one by giving
him every facility for the acquisition OF land
| ct . reasonable cost"
He proposes to achieve the distribution Of
L lduu pS ku6 Qulct use - OF existing luStitu-
tionh With which the public Is familiar, aud
| which II takes as mater of course. F"
"lt may be inferred that the desideratum
l Is method OF tdrdtlDa that uiN make idnd
| distribute uSep IN response 10 tie c0ntiHu'
/ ally increasing demand therefor: supple
| mented by such legislation regarding the set.
| Oement OF estates will aid in this process
| oil distribution. For exsmpie,tt might be made
unlawful for an heir to inherit more than a
| certain area OF land in any county in which
he does not actually reside. the excess to be
sold by the sheriff and the proceeds, less
| costs, turned into the estate In cash. Such a
provision would induce many men to settle
/ their own estates by selling OF land Is they
| had opportunity and investirg the money
| otherwise Indeed rich men would be less
| disposed to accumulate real estate, and thus
the monopoly demand for land would be re.
| reduced, and improvement prom oted by the
capital thus directed into channels OF greater
i activity"
He then proceeds to unfold his plan for dis
| tribution toy taxation, first attacking the
| present system of taxation based on value
because it is a tax on Improvement "A town
| that wishes to inducs factory to locate within
/ Its limits eNempts Ii IRON taxation for term
| OF years and the factory comes. This species
| OF exemption should become perpetual and
universal II possible. A man should not be
| fined for building handsome house by being
compelled to pay 3 big tax on 1t, while his
| next door neghbor, with a squatty, ugly little
| house that Is an eyesors to the reig borhood
Is taxed lightly" "The farmer who takes
up some lid land, clears it, fertilzes it and
makes 1t worth something is taxed or fined
for doing so. In one respect at least, We
/ have carried out the Socialist doctrine Ths
farmer Is only q tensut the government is
/ his landlord the tax Is his rent and when the
tenant makes improvements the landlord,
| forsooth, raises the rent"
| Mr.. Bocock suggests Z" that specific tax alton
| be substituted for the ad valnrem tax alton OF
land, by applying to each unit of measure
! ment, Gan acre or square foot j. a tax rate of
| definite sum OF money" the land would
OF course have to be classified and Mr.. BocoCk
| would do this on the basis OF the nature of
the community in which the land is situated.
1.-THE nature OF the community registers It's
growth in its municipal Institutions In a
large city, for instance, the first class OF taxa
bic land would constitute the land fronting
| on the principle street and there could be as
| many classes rs necessary. The publicity OF
| this definition would certainly remove the
| evils OF unequal valuation.
The tendency Of this sy stem he says would
| be to discourage large ownership OF land. \ IT
/ many men would care to pay heavy taxes on
more than they could use. 1t would promote
instead OF discourage improvements. Bar
| rem lands not worth the taxes would be
| abandoned to the state, or explored Tor
| minerals, small homesteads and careful farm.
| ing would take the place OF grea. estates and
waste. BY the present system the tax per
| acre, Is heavier on small farm than on an
estate OF a thousand acres for the former
must bear larger proportion OF the tax on
the farm buildings Area taxation makes no
unjust discrimination in favor OF the large
holder, or unwise penalty upon MS more
| elaborate improvements it taxes at tie same
| rate all land similarly situated.
His argument concludes with the follow.
Ing reference to the working g OF his scheme in
/ Lancaster county:
"As an example Of how the specific
method OF taxation would work, let US ex.
| anime the conditions of taxation IN Lancaster
| county, Pennsy ylvanis--the richest agricul-
fIng t,nfx IL, fi,a T,ts ,.,tt
unusually low county tax rate OF two and
| half mills on the dollar. The assessed
! value OF real property in the year lSS5, exclu-
siye OF the city OF Lancaster and the borough
| OF Columbia, was about e. 0OO, 900, and there.
| fore prod uced a nominal revenue OF $l75 600
The area OF improved land in the county lin.
| cluding Lancaster aud Coumbs) at the time
OF the census enumeration in lsSO was i90-
S22 acres, or total area OF go square miles,
62l, 900 acres Thus the amount raised by
| taxing all rural property ad valorem in 1855,
| could have bean raised by specific tax OF
| 35 cents to the acre OF Improved land, or an
average tax OF 2a2 cents to the acre. The
| average area OF Q Lancaster county farm is
10 acres the average value OF farm land, iG
Guiding all improvements, 500 per acre;
so that the sd vslorem tax, at two and
half mills on the dollar, would be
| one.fourth OF one per cent Of s., 400; that
is, $l3 30 as the annual tax bill, or - cents
| per acre 1t may be Professionally estimated,
therefore, that in Lancaster county the effect
OF substituting SPECIFIC Tor al ValOr6m taxa.
ton would be to increase the ac.usl taxation
according to the improved area 10 cents per
scre, or A. 4 per cent SO far as this would
operate to effect red duciion in the average
farm area, 1t would reduce 1t from filty-four
scres to thirty-seven acres and q half; 81 9
acres, taxed at 35 6 cents an acre, paying the
same tax that q farm Of 81 acres pays now.
But there are l30 900 scres of unimproved
land. Let US suppose that 80, 600 Of these
10 capable Of immediate improvement and
should be taxed st IS cents an acre. II 1t
were eli collected, $40, $50 would be obtained
and the tax rate on improved land would
come down per cent II the 100 600 acres
OF unimproved land not yet considered were
taxed five cents to begin with, 5000 more
would be produced anu the tax rate on land
would come down nearly five per cent more.
The policy OF taxing unimproved lands more
heavily and thus relieving improved land,
while stimulating the unimproved to i'm.
provement, would OF course have to be
adopted gradually but its benefits would be
likely to vindica It from the start Doubt.
less there is much unimprovsd land In Lam
caster county for instance which would be
taken up sno improved At once II sold TOR
taxeA "